Diamond Comic Distributors released the first market share data for comics sold in the direct market in January 2017. While 2016 was a great year for comics, 2017 is not off to a great start.
Marvel Comics was January’s top publisher with a 37.09% dollar share and a 42.62% unit share. DC Entertainment was the month’s number two publisher with a 28.93% dollar share and a 31.33% unit share. At number three was Image Comics with a 9.82% dollar share and a 9.36% unit share. IDW Publishing was fourth with a 5.25% dollar share and a 3.45% unit share, followed by Dark Horse Comics with a 4.04% dollar share and a 2.91% unit share.
What is really fascinating about the this chart is even though Marvel was the top publisher for the month, it only had three titles in the top ten, while DC Comics had six titles. This seems to indicate that perhaps Marvel had more books landing in the top 20 than its competitors. We’ll find out more on Monday when the complete top 300 comics list is released. Also aiding Marvel’s win is the fact the publisher sold a few more books that DC did.
| PUBLISHER | COMICS SHIPPED | GRAPHIC NOVELS SHIPPED | MAGAZINES SHIPPED | TOTAL SHIPPED |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MARVEL COMICS | 97 | 33 | 0 | 130 |
| DC ENTERTAINMENT | 86 | 26 | 0 | 112 |
| IMAGE COMICS | 44 | 16 | 0 | 60 |
| IDW PUBLISHING | 41 | 17 | 0 | 58 |
| DARK HORSE COMICS | 27 | 16 | 0 | 43 |
| BOOM ENTERTAINMENT | 26 | 7 | 0 | 33 |
| TITAN COMICS | 24 | 0 | 4 | 28 |
| DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT | 16 | 6 | 0 | 22 |
| VIZ MEDIA | 0 | 21 | 0 | 21 |
| VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC | 9 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
| OTHER | 87 | 96 | 27 | 210 |
| RANK | DESCRIPTION | PRICE | VENDOR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | U.S.AVENGERS #1 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 2 | BATMAN #14 | $2.99 | DC |
| 3 | BATMAN #15 | $2.99 | DC |
| 4 | JUSTICE LEAGUE/POWER RANGERS #1 | $3.99 | DC |
| 5 | THE WALKING DEAD #162 (MR) | $2.99 | IMA |
| 6 | ALL-STAR BATMAN #6 | $4.99 | DC |
| 7 | JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD #3 | $3.99 | DC |
| 8 | MONSTERS UNLEASHED #1 | $4.99 | MAR |
| 9 | AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #23 | $3.99 | MAR |
| 10 | JUSTICE LEAGUE #12 | $2.99 | DC |
Sadly, 2017 is not off to a great start, with comic sales slipping just under 8% compared to December 2016. Sales dropped across the board with graphic novels and direct market toy sales. This can easily be dismissed due to the high volume of sales occurring during the December holidays. This seems to track with data comparing sales from January 2017 and January 2016 that shows a slight increase in comic sales.
| DOLLARS | UNITS | |
|---|---|---|
| JANUARY 2017 VS. DECEMBER 2016 | ||
| COMICS | -7.50% | -7.84% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -18.85% | -28.03% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | -11.00% | -9.49% |
| TOYS | -38.37% | -39.98% |
| JANUARY 2017 VS. JANUARY 2016 | ||
| COMICS | 0.36% | 7.21% |
| GRAPHIC NOVELS | -11.88% | -8.61% |
| TOTAL COMICS/GN | -3.41% | 6.01% |
| TOYS | -15.43% | -2.28% |
Overall, there doesn’t seem any reason to worry right now. It seems the first quarter is always a bit slower than the rest of the year. Once the comic convention season and movie season get underway in March, I expect we’ll see the comic industry kick into high gear.
